Open roads at full throttle

A R10-million Rolls-Royce Phantom does not run on reputation alone.

This was one of the lessons learned on the inaugural Rogue Rally.

The luxury sedan, which handles "like you're driving a hotel room", was not only the slowest car in the rally, which featured 53 supercars, but, to the delight of many, it needed a little help from a humble Citi Golf when it ran out of fuel at the Van der Kloof Dam, in Northern Cape.

"We passed three petrol stations that had no petrol and then we had to siphon off 10litres of fuel from a guy in a Citi Golf to get us to the next petrol station," said Jacques van den Berg, the Rogue Rally spokesman, who drove the Phantom.

Rogue Rally drivers set off from Sandton, Johannesburg, on June 17, driving across the country and competing in race stages at venues such as the Phakisa race track, in the Free State, and at Hoedspruit Air Force Base, in Mpumalanga.

The inaugural version of the South African race involved 53 of the country's richest petrolheads.

Over the 2700km of the rally, not a single supercar was caught exceeding the speed limit - unless you count the VW Kombi support vehicle as a supercar.

"The only guy caught was the support car, doing 132km/h in a 120km/h zone," said Van den Berg.

The Rogue Rally - with an entry fee of R50000 - is based loosely on the Gumball 3000, an annual British 4800km international event run on public roads.

South African drivers competed not only on the open road but in track racing around Phakisa, and in the drag stages at Hoedspruit and in Kimberley, Northern Cape.

At Hoedspruit an "insanely souped-up" Nissan GTR outshone its more glamorous counterparts, such as the McLarens and Ferrari 458s, and lapped more than two seconds faster around the Phakisa track (1:48.03) than a McLaren (1:50.05).

The Nissan GTR, which is priced at about R1.4-million out of the box, was worked on to the tune of another R1.4-million to give it 1200 horsepower.

The winners of the rally were a team in a Lamborghini Gallardo Superlegera driven by an "extremely well-known businessman".

The first prize was in recognition of overall performance in all five events - which included a navigators' challenge during which they had to photograph the car next to various landmarks - and for "party spirit".

THE ROGUE RALLY IN NUMBERS

• The total value of the cars in the rally was estimated to be about R113-million;
• The rally covered 2700km and visited five provinces;
• The highest reported speed was during the high-speed run at Hoedspruit where a McLaren reached 302km/h (unofficial);
• The Phakisa track was completed in 1:48,029 by a much-modified Nissan GT-R;
• There were 10 support vehicles including a helicopter;
• The most expensive car was the slowest - a R10-million Rolls-Royce Phantom; and
• A support truck travelled with R500000-plus in tyres.